Jagdgeschwader 52

Jagdgeschwader 52
Squadron badge
active	May 1, 1939 to 1945
Country	German Empire
Armed forces	Wehrmacht
Armed forces	air force
Branch of service	Air force
Type	Jagdgeschwader
structure	Squadron staff and 3 groups
Insinuation	mainly air fleet 4
Installation site	Ingolstadt-Manching
Aircraft type	Bf 109 versions E to K
Second World War	Western campaign Battle of Britain Balkan campaign Eastern front
Awards	four times mentioned in the Wehrmacht report
Squadron commodors
First commodore	M. von Bernegg Major
Last commodore	Hermann Graf Lieutenant Colonel

The Jagdgeschwader 52 (JG 52) was an association of the Luftwaffe during World War II . The squadron was mainly used on the Eastern Front. With almost 9,000 kills during the war, it is the most successful fighter squadron to this day. Erich Hartmann , Gerhard Barkhorn and Günther Rall were among the most famous members of the unit . The unit's standard aircraft was the Bf 109 .

history

Lineup

The I. Group was set up on November 1, 1938 as I. / JG 433 in Ingolstadt-Manching (on May 1, 1939, following the relocation of the group from Ingolstadt to Böblingen, it was renamed I. / JG 52). Group II was established at the beginning of the war by merging I. / JG 71 and JG 72 to form the 4th and 5th / JG 52, respectively, followed by the 6th / JG 52 (also in September 1939). The last group to join was III./ JG 52 on March 1, 1940 at Strausberg Air Base. The first confirmed launch took place during the deployment phase when Paul Gutbrod (11./ JG 52) shot down a French ANF ​​Les Mureaux 117 reconnaissance aircraft west of Karlsruhe on September 8, 1939 .

Western campaign, Battle of Britain and Operation Mercury

Until May 1940, the squadron was deployed under the command of Luftflotte 3 to protect the western border in the Palatinate area (Mannheim) and then take part in the western campaign. In June 1940, however, they were relocated back to northern and central Germany. The squadron was moved to the Straits of Calais (including Coquelles ) in August 1940 to take part in the Battle of Britain. The III. Gruppe was withdrawn to Air Fleet 4 in Pipera in Romania in October to train Romanian pilots there. By the end of 1940, 177 kills and 53 pilots were reported dead or missing. To support the airborne operations in Crete (Operation Merkur) the III. Group relocated to Greece and flew mostly ground attacks from there.

Eastern Front

The Bf 109 is the standard aircraft of the squadron

Günther Rall

In preparation for the war against the Soviet Union , the squadron was relocated to the east. Mainly the Army Group South was supported and the Romanian oil fields secured. While the I. and II. Groups were subordinated to other formations, the III. Group in the southernmost sector of the front, on the Black Sea . This meant that there was relatively little contact with the enemy. The III. In the autumn of 1941, the 15th (Croatian) hunting squadron was added to the group, which was followed by the 13th (Slovak) hunting squadron in the II group from October 27, 1942.

In the first months of the campaign it became clear that the majority of the Soviet pilots were poorly equipped and, above all, poorly trained, so that many of the squadron's pilots were shot down. In the period between June 22nd and December 5th, 1941, 881 Soviet machines were destroyed. At the beginning of 1942, JG 52 and JG 3 were placed under Luftflotte 4 and were responsible for air support in the southern sector of the front.

At the end of June 1942, the German Fall Blau offensive began , with which the squadron began to rise as a typical "Eastern Squadron". As a result, the highest number of enemy aircraft shot down in air war history was achieved. The individual groups mostly operated independently and spatially separated from each other on almost all front sections. During this time, the new equipment on the more modern Bf 109G took place. In addition to free hunting, escort and reconnaissance, more and more deep attacks had to be flown to relieve the ground troops.

In September 1942, Hermann Graf was the first pilot in the Air Force to score his 200th kill. When the defeat at Stalingrad became apparent, parts of the squadron were used for the Wintergewitter company . The route led it via Barwenkowo, Kerch, Stalingrad, the Caucasus to the Kuban bridgehead . The staff, I. and III./JG 52 took part in the Citadel operation from July 5, 1943 . Assigned to the 8th Air Corps under Luftflotte 4 , they supported the southern attack wedge in the ultimately failed attack in the direction of Kursk . Other locations were on the Mius, Uman and the defense of Sevastopol. In the spring of 1944, the Kgl. Hungarian hunting squadron.

After the Crimea had to be evacuated in May 1944, the squadron was split up. The 2nd, 4th and 7th squadrons were handed over to the Reich Defense. Group II moved via Romania in August 1944 to Transylvania and Hungary, and finally withdrew to places around Vienna in April 1945. While the II. Group was stationed in Romania, there were aerial battles with the USAAF for the first time , which increasingly attacked the Romanian oil fields . The squadron staff and the two other groups were used from May 1944 in Romania, near Krakow, in the Vistula bridgehead , in East Prussia and Courland, to supply Breslau from the air and in Bohemia.

On May 8th, the day of the surrender, Erich Hartmann scored the last downing of the squadron near Brno.

After all the planes had been blown up, the squadron surrendered to the US troops of the 90th Infantry Division at the end of the war. On May 16, 1945, however, they were extradited to the Russian troops, and individual squadron members did not return from captivity until ten years later.

Use statistics

The operational records of the last months of the war were destroyed, so no exact figures are known for this period. It is certain that the squadron shot down nearly 9,000 enemy aircraft. 33 pilots each achieved more than 100 kills, including the three most successful pilots in the Air Force: Erich Hartmann, Gerhard Barkhorn and Günther Rall. Together they came to a kill number of 928, which in detail was not exceeded in later wars. In contrast, there are 678 pilots who were killed in action.

Awards

53 pilots received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross while flying for the JG 52 . 15 pilots received the oak leaves for the Knight's Cross. Of these, 7 were also awarded the swords. Erich Hartmann and Hermann Graf were among the only 27 soldiers in the Wehrmacht who were awarded the diamonds for the Knight's Cross.

Knight's Cross bearer

Awards of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross to members of the squadron

Surname	Knight's cross	Oak leaves	Swords	Diamonds
Leesmann, Karl-Heinz	July 23, 1941
Steinhoff, Johannes	Aug 30, 1941	0Sep 2 1942	July 28, 1944
Köppen, Gerhard	Dec 18, 1941	Feb. 27, 1942
Graf, Hermann	Jan. 24, 1942	May 17, 1942	May 19, 1942	16 Sep 1942
Steinbatz, Leopold	Feb 14, 1942	0June 2, 1942	June 23, 1942
Dickfeld, Adolf	March 19, 1942	May 19, 1942
Rossmann, Edmund	March 19, 1942
Wachowiak, Friedrich	0Apr 5, 1942
Zwernemann, Josef	June 23, 1942	Oct 31, 1942
Gratz, Karl	0July 1, 1942
Grislawski, Alfred	0July 1, 1942	Apr 11, 1944
Simsch, Siegfried	0July 1, 1942
Steffen, Karl	0July 1, 1942
Barkhorn, Gerhard	23 Aug 1942	Jan. 12, 1943	0March 2, 1944
Dammers, Hans	23 Aug 1942
Schmidt, Heinz	23 Aug 1942	16 Sep 1942
Rall, Günther	03rd Sep 1942	Oct 26, 1942	Sep 12 1943
Semelka, Waldemar	04th Sep 1942
Sweet, serious	04th Sep 1942
Resch, Rudolf	06 Sep 1942
Graßmuck, Berthold	19 Sep 1942
Hammerl, Karl	19 Sep 1942
Bennemann, Dr. med. dent. Helmut	0Oct 2, 1942
Füllgrabe, Heinrich	0Oct 2, 1942
Krupinski, Walter	Oct. 29, 1942	0March 2, 1944
Miethig, Rudolf	Oct. 29, 1942
from Bonin, Hubertus	Dec 21, 1942
Freuwörth, Wilhelm	0Jan. 5, 1943
Wiese, Johannes	0Jan. 5, 1943	0March 2, 1944
Think Gustav	March 14, 1943
Nemitz, Willi	March 24, 1943
Trenkel, Rudolf	Aug 19, 1943
Korts, Berthold	Aug 29, 1943
Hartmann, Erich	Oct. 29, 1943	0March 2, 1944	0July 2, 1944	Aug 25, 1944
Quast, Werner	Dec 31, 1943
Waldmann, Hans	0Feb 5, 1944
Petermann, Viktor	Feb. 29, 1944
Obleser, Friedrich	March 12, 1944
Batz, Wilhelm	March 26, 1944	July 20, 1944	Apr 21, 1945
Fönnekold, Otto	March 26, 1944
Sturm, Heinrich	March 26, 1944
Bunzek, Johannes	0Apr 6, 1944
Hoffmann, Gerhard	May 14, 1944
Düttmann, Peter	0June 9, 1944
Sachsenberg, Heinz	0June 9, 1944
Bachnick, Herbert	July 27, 1944
Birkner, Hans-Joachim	July 27, 1944
Wolfrum, Walter	July 27, 1944
Schall, Franz	Oct 10, 1944
Lipfert, Helmut	0Apr 5, 1945	Apr 17, 1945
Resch, Anton	0Apr 7, 1945
Ewald, Heinz	April 20, 1945
Haas, Friedrich	Apr 26, 1945

Commanders

Squadron commodors

• Major Merhart von Bernegg (August 19, 1939 to August 18, 1940)
• Major Hanns Trübenbach (August 19, 1940 to October 10, 1941)
• Major Wilhelm Lessmann (October 15, 1941 to June 2, 1942)
• Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Beckh (June 3-21, 1942)
• Major Herbert Ihlefeld (June 22 to October 28, 1942)
• Lieutenant Colonel Dietrich Hrabak (November 1, 1942 to September 30, 1944)
• Lieutenant Colonel Hermann Graf (October 1, 1944 to May 8, 1945)

Group commanders

I. group

• Captain Dietrich Graf von Pfeil and Klein-Ellguth (November 1, 1938 to November 21, 1939)
• Oberleutnant Wolfgang Ewald (November 21, 1939 to February 9, 1940)
• Captain Siegfried von Eschwege (February 9 to August 26, 1940)
• Captain Wolfgang Ewald (August 26, 1940 to May 24, 1941)
• Oberleutnant Karl-Heinz Leesmann (May 25 to November 6, 1941)
• First Lieutenant Carl Lommel (November 6, 1941 to May 6, 1942)
• Captain Karl-Heinz Leesmann (May 6 to June 13, 1942)
• Captain Helmut Bennemann (June 14, 1942 to May 10, 1943)
• Captain Johannes Wiese (May 11 to August 1, 1943)
• Captain Gerhard Barkhorn (August 1–30 , 1943)
• Captain Johannes Wiese (November 1, 1943 to May 19, 1944)
• Captain Adolf Borchers (June 11, 1944 to January 31, 1945)
• Captain Erich Hartmann (February 1 to May 8, 1945)

II group

• Captain Hans-Günther von Kornatzki (September 1, 1939 to August 26, 1940)
• Captain Wilhelm Ensslen (August 27 to November 2, 1940)
• Captain Erich Woitke (November 3, 1940 to February 28, 1942)
• Captain Johannes Steinhoff (March 1, 1942 to March 24, 1943)
• Captain Helmut Kühle (March 25 to August 31, 1943)
• Captain Gerhard Barkhorn (September 1, 1943 to May 31, 1944)
• Captain Helmut Lipfert (June 1 to October 25, 1944)
• Major Gerhard Barkhorn (October 26, 1944 to January 15, 1945)
• Captain Erich Hartmann (January 16–31, 1945)
• Captain Wilhelm Batz (February 1 to May 8, 1945)

III. group

• Captain Wolf-Heinrich von Houwald (March 1 to July 24, 1940)
• Major Alexander von Winterfeldt (August 1 to October 6, 1940)
• Major Gotthard Handrick (October 7, 1940 to June 22, 1941)
• Major Albert Blumensaat (June 23 to September 30, 1941)
• Major Hubertus von Bonin (October 1, 1941 to July 5, 1943)
• Captain Günther Rall (July 6, 1943 to April 18, 1944)
• Major Wilhelm Batz (April 19, 1944 to January 31, 1945)
• Captain Adolf Borchers (February 1 to May 8, 1945)

Known squadron members

• Günther Rall (1918-2009), was from 1970 to 1974 as a lieutenant general of the Air Force of the Armed Forces Inspector of the Air Force
• Erich Hartmann (1922–1993), with 352 confirmed aerial victories, is the most successful fighter pilot in the history of the air war to date
• Josef Haiböck (1917–2002), in 1975 as major general of the Austrian Armed Forces, was commander of the aviation division
• Walter Krupinski (1920–2000), was from 1974 to 1976 as a lieutenant general in the air force of the German armed forces, commanding general of the air fleet command
• Hans Berthel (1914–2003), film architect
• Artur Fischer (1919–2016), entrepreneur and inventor
• Gotthard Handrick (1908–1978), won the gold medal in the modern pentathlon at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin
• Dietrich Adolf Hrabak (1914–1995) was in 1970 as major general in the air force of the German armed forces general of the combat units in the air force office
• Friedrich Obleser (1923–2004), was Lieutenant General of the Air Force of the German Armed Forces from 1978 to 1983, Inspector of the Air Force
• Johannes Steinhoff (1913–1994) was Lieutenant General of the German Air Force from 1966 to 1970, Inspector of the Air Force

literature

• Wolfgang Dierich (Ed.): The Air Force Associations 1935–1945. Outlines and short chronicles. A documentation . Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1976, ISBN 3-87943-437-9 .
• Bernd Barbas: The history of the I. Group of the Jagdgeschwader 52 . Self-published, Überlingen 2006, ISBN 3-923457-79-0 .
• Bernd Barbas: The history of the II. Group of Jagdgeschwader 52 . Self-published, Überlingen 2003, ISBN 3-923457-71-5 .

Web links

Commons : Jagdgeschwader 52  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Traditionsgemeinschaft Jagdgeschwader 52 e. V. - Detailed history of the squadron, war diary, knight cross bearers and pilots, picture archive

Individual evidence

1. ↑ John Weal: Jagdgeschwader 52 (= Aviation Elite Units. Vol. 15). Osprey, Oxford 2004, ISBN 1-84176-786-7 .
2. ↑ Military History Research Office (ed.): The German Reich and the Second World War . Volume 8: Karl-Heinz Frieser (Ed.): The Eastern Front 1943/44. The war in the east and on the secondary fronts. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt , Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-421-06235-2 , p. 91.